Foreign Worker

This is posted as it was received by me.


Date: Mon, 28 Nov 2005 17:55:32 +0800
MAS the flying buffet

MAS will soon be reporting 2nd quarter losses of RM260.0 million.
The losses are actually closer to RM300.0 million but MAS has been doing some creative accounting to make the Chairman Munir Majid ook like he is doing his job. Certain 'write backs', 'overprovisions' etc are being used to make the red ink less.
Will this stop the rot at MAS ? Not likely. The company is in deep ****.
The new incoming MD Idris Jala is supposed to arrive on Dec 1st after the second qtr losses have been announced. That was the deal.
But Munir is trying to delay announcing the 2 nd qtr losses andleave it to Idris Jala. This is not good feng shui for a new incoming MD to start the day by announcing losses.

MAS is actually a flying buffet for the big guns. The company is
owned by the Government. So it is not their own money. It is the
Government's money. The big guns are ripping off MAS. The big guns are in just for the joyride.

The Chairman appointed sometime September last year is ripping off MAS. Almost every weekend now he flies first class on MAS to London for free of course. This is an abuse of his position as Chairman. He has a Mat Salleh wife in London who he is divorcing and maybe in the process of replacing so the free air rides to London come in handy.

Munir even has the dubious honour of making a day trip to London.
He took the night flight from KLIA which arrives a.m. in London.
Then he had a limousine with a orang putih chauffeur pick him up in London airport and drive him to some condo. He kept the chauffeur waiting seven hours while he finished his 'business' in the condo.
Then the chauffeur drove him back to the airport where Munir
caught the evening flight back toKL. All this is paid using thetaxpayers money. Anybody cares ?

MAS has its own company cars in London but obviously that is not
good enough for Munir the top performing Chairman of the most
successful airline company in Asia now entering into its second
quarter of multi hundred million Ringgit losses. Nothing less than
a Rolls Royce or Bentley with orang putih chauffeur.
After he became Chairman, Munir ordered office renovations
totalling RM 841,000.00 for his office on the 34th floor of the MAS
building in Jln Sultan Islamil. This was at a time when MAS management already knew that MAS was going to report 1 st qtr losses of RM280.0 million in 2005.
Included in this RM841,000.00 renovation is kitchen equipment worth RM 33,515.00.
Here are the details as per contractor's invoice :

1. KITCHEN EQUIPMENT :

Contractor : SI Corporation Sdn Bhd.
12 Jln Kenari 8, Bandar Puchong Jaya.
Batu 10, 47100 Puchong, Selangor DE.
Tel : 8075 7788

INVOICE NO 6809
3 MARCH 2005. RM
33,515.00



2. INTERIOR RENOVATIONS :

Contractor : Design Practice Consultants
3A, 48 & 50, 4th Floor, Block A,
Kelana Centre Point,
No 3 Jln SS 7/19,
47301 Kelana Jaya,
Selangor Darul Ehsan.
Tel : 7803 4328


Cert of Progress Paym! ent No
3
24th March 2005

Contract Sum RM
760,000.00


Cert of Payment No 02
4th April 2005

Contract
Sum RM
48,000.00


---------------------
Total RM
841,515.00


Well once you renovate your office for RM841,000 certainly you need some art works to grace the office. So Munir spent RM1,557, 000.00 (yes that is RM1.6 Million of taxpayers money ok) buying art works.

First here are the details :

ART SUPPLIER :

RUMAH SENI NUSANTARA SDN BHD
1st Floor, 17 Jln Telawi 3, Bangsar Baru,
59100 Kuala Lumpur.
Tel : 2284 2348

INVOICE FOR SOPHIA
VARI / FERNANDO BOTERO
1st April 2005.

i. Sophia Vari (Coeur de L'Impenetrable ) RM 75,000.00

ii. Fernando Botero (Still Life With Violin) RM 1,140,000.00

iii. Fernando Botero (Still Life With Lobster) RM 342,000.00


----------------------
Total
RM 1,557,000.00


Fernando Botero is a Colombian artist. All his paintings are a little gross because he 'blows up' or paints oversized depictions
of his subjects especially humans. Here is an example :

Reproductions of his works can be bought for US25.0 (RM100.00) from barewalls.com an Internet based art retailer.

Surprisingly 'Still Life With Violin' is not listed anywhere in Botero's collection. There is however a 'Still Life With Mandolin'.
Have they got the name wrong ? Did they pay for the correct painting ? Here is a picture of 'Still Life With Mandolin'

One would assume that considering MAS' RM 540.0 million losses over two quarters, the new Chairman would at least try to balance his aesthetic tastes with a cheaper reproduction than buying the originals at over RM1.4 million.

But MAS is a flying buffet. Everyone wants to feed off taxpayers money while the wool is still pulled over people's eyes.

Not only the big guns but Senior Executives (AGM and above) have also been given an RM10.0 million car deal that will knock your socks off. Despite making such huge losses, MAS rewarded
Senior Execs and implemented a scheme where it pays outright in cash for 75% of the purchase price of any car of their choice for Senior Execs. And the remaining 25 % ? You guessed it. MAS gives a soft loan for the 25%. This is 100%.

And this is to reward Senior Execs for racking up losses of RM540.0 million for two consecutive quarters.

Then MAS is also getting ripped off by poorly negotiatedcontracts
especially with ticket agents. General Sales Agents hold, monopoly franchises in certain countries to sell MAS tickets.

But they often get unduly large discounts from MAS HQ in KL. Then because of these large discounts they are able to sell the tickets at two or three times mark up and make all the profit for
themselves.
Why does MAS Sales give them such large discounts ? Some of the GSAs are also very friendly with MAS' Sales people. One of them has reputedly bought a condominium in KL for his buddy in MAS. Maybe this is one way of getting discounts. MAS is a flying buffet.
Then of course there is the famous food catering ripoff. Food is
catered by Sky Chef, a company owned by the PM's brother.
Needless to say, while MAS is making huge losses, Sky Chef is
making good profits. Is this strange or is it not strange ?

MAS has won some international award for Best Cabin Crew three years in a row. Someone has decided that MAS should also win the award for Best Airline Food !! So theylaunched 'Project Relish'. This is just another ripoff project. Lettuce from Cameron Highlands has been replaced with expensive, airflown lettuce from Australia. (No one stopped to think if Qantas has ever won Best Airline Food award serving Aussie lettuce).
Included in Project Relish is the redesign of their serving trays.
Special design consultants have been engaged to redesign MAS
serving trays. They would do better to ask their own air hostesses and stewards to design the plastic trays. But MAS is a flying buffet.
Next we come to the 'con sultans' ripoff. Thus begins the story
of Mazidah and Chris Andrews.

Chris Andrews is a British consultant who was paid RM7,250 per day by MAS. Yes kawan kawan, this fellow was being paid more than the PM of Malaysia or more than the CEO of Sime, Maybank or anyone else.
In 5 days of work, Chris Andrews would earn from MAS RM36,250 which is about twice the annual salary of a graduate starting work in Malaysia. In slightly over one year, Chris Andrews has been paid over RM1.3 million in "con sultan" fees by MAS. These are the sultans of con.

Who appointed Chris Andrews and what does he do ? Chris Andrews was pulled into MAS by one woman called Mazidah who is the head of Admin Support Services. For reasons that are becoming more clearer, she convinced MAS to hire Chris Andrews for RM7,250 per day to handle MAS' IT outsourcing.
What did Chris Andrews do? He got MAS to outsource all their IT
support to IBM. Since this outsourcing of IT support to IBM about 2 years ago, MAS' IT costs have spiralled about three fold. Here is how it happens. Now when a computer breaks down, MAS staffers can call a Help Desk. The Help Desk is manned by guess who ?
Why IBM of course - the IT outsource !
IBM will then advise what to do - say call in a software guy (IBM
of course), service the hardware (by IBM of course) or changehardware (by IBM of course).
The IT outsourcing to IBM is so complete that IBM also issues and signs the Purchase Orders on behalf of MAS to ITSELF for replacement parts ! !

As MAS' IT Outsource 'ConSultant' as well as being the major IT
supplier to MAS, IBM is in the enviable position of being able to
decide what and how much MAS should buy from itself. Ini bukan 'mesin niaga' tapi ini sudah jadi lagi satu kes 'melayu tak tahu niaga'.

While MAS is making losses, no one has bothered to check how much money IBM is making this year from MAS? When queried by the Board why IT costs have spiraled up, Mazidah convinced them that MAS was paying the cost of catching up with the latest IT technologies.

This is what Mazidah and her friend Chris Andrews have been
doing at MAS. Did I say 'friend' ? Talk is other than slowing takeoffs at MAS, Chris Andrews and Mazidah have been 'taxiing down the runway' for a while. Mazidah who has three children, has become ChrisAndrews 'friend'.
After about two years of taxiing, she has either married Chris Andrews or is still in a take off mode.

Lately Chris Andrews has been given a permanent position at MAS. He is now Senior GM in charge of 'Strategy'. People are wondering how a RM7,250 a day IT consultant can become Head of Strategy Group ?
Chris Andrews (Strategy) and Mazidah (Admin Support) are also the middle aged couple who sit in at MAS Management Committee meetings - this is the ruling elite in MAS - which is more influential than the MAS Board of Directors inhabited by clowns representing Khazanah, the MOF and other such outfits.

About two months ago, Chris Andrews (IT 'con sultan' turned Strategy Head) convinced MAS to raise their 1st Class and Business Class fares by almost three times. From having the cheapest 1st Class Fares, MAS is now among the most expensive 1st Class airlines in
the world.
Understandably bookings have dropped with some flights having almost zero 1st Class passengers. More red ink for MAS.
This company is not going to turn around soon.

Chris and Mazidah are also savvy at PR. On Friday 25 th November 2005 they threw lavish and exclusive welcome party for Idris Jala.
Only the selected and the few from among the ruling elite in MAS were invited. Those outside the ruling elite were left out. But the party was held at company premises, using more of company funds.
Idris Jala is said to have asked the Govt's blessing to undertake a VSS scheme in MAS. This is a good move considering that the airline is overstaffed with over 23,000 employees when it only needs about 13,000 people to run. But paying off about 8,000
people is going to be expensive. But not to worry. The Second
Minister of Finance has agreed to pour in more money for MAS. A sizeable soft loan from the Govt to MAS is in the works. Many experienced staff who have slogged faithfully in the rank and file
in MAS for the past decades are getting fed up and just waiting
for the VSS to make their exit.
This will leave MAS with even less experienced staff and more at
the mercy of the 'con sultans'. Stay tuned for more MAS news.

A300Man-2005

Holy sh!t

What a post - didn't realise MAS was in such dire straits. And, for all the money they have spent lately in introducing new facilities onboard and relaunching their product, it actually ain't that good! Perhaps more mis-spent money.

What does "orang putih" mean, in reference to the "driver" in your post?


A300Man

TheFlyingDJ

orang putih is white guy.

I am now in m'sia and the ppl here at mas are not pleased at all. ppl are getting out of the company fast. Mas is going bankrupt?
I dont know, but i wouldn't bet on this horse

I heard many stories about mas.. but reading this chairman story.. my goodness.

411A

Have to ask...why would MAS management care what a ppl thinks?
Any of 'em.

It takes a professional license to fly an airliner, not some rag-tag ppl.

Good grief.

katana.flyer

ppl = people .

JW411

You're showing your age old boy. Time for u 2 do a crse in txt speak!

barit1

13 years ago MAS was flying 747/RB211, 747/CF6, and 747/JT9. The kickback du jour got the latest order. (I have the t-shirt to prove it!)

The engine shop FOD'ed an engine while I was there, but managed to stick the vendor with the bill.

Not much has changed, it seems.

HI'er

Just another case of an airline's upper level "management" with their greedy fingers in the cash register to the detriment of ALL other employees, and the airline itself!

Heatseeker

It's a pity really. I have been dealing with MAS for the last 25 years and down at the coal face where I live it has always been an enjoyable experience.

I really hope they turn around and prosper.

H

cressidom

Nation
Friday December 23, 2005

Senator urges Munir to resign as MAS chairman

KUALA LUMPUR: A senator urged Malaysia Airlines chairman Datuk Munir Majid to relinquish his post and pave the way for the appointment of a new chairman.

Senator Datuk Syed Ali Alhabshee said it would enable the company's new managing director Idris Jala to carry out his role more effectively.

“I propose that Petronas president and chief executive officer Tan Sri Mohd Hassan Marican be brought into MAS so that he can bring his expertise in making billions of ringgit for Petronas to MAS,” he told reporters at the Parliament lobby yesterday.

Last week, Syed Ali brought up the issue of MAS buying RM1.55mil worth of paintings in the Dewan Negara.

He added that Jala had exhibited his transparency and carried a clean image by opting to use a national car instead of a luxury one offered by MAS.

The Senators Club meanwhile called for an independent commission to investigate irregularities in MAS, including the company's purchase of three paintings worth RM1.55mil.

It also called for transparency in the investigation so that discrepancies, which led to the hefty losses incurred by the national carrier, would be made public.

ipohmali777

Really shocking..How come these people are so brave to commit this daylight robbery.The problem with the Malaysian Top Management is that they leave an aircond house, get into an a/cond car and enter an a/cond office. No wonder they are so cold. These people will be better off either in the artic or antartic....hopefully the transfer will be around soon. Come on Jala, start sacking some top guys and u will see changes. Remember, be BOLD to sack.

essentialbus

The Petronas CEO as new MAS Chairman ?

Then there are two “”Oil” barons running the airline. That’ll be the day.
Poor Idris presented a brilliant idea; sell the head office building to generate cash.
Shows that the whole sorry lot around him have him already firmly encapseled in their web.
Pathetic, in stead of going to the core of the problem they want to sell assets to save their fat asses.
I feel sorry for Idris, he has no chance. The government threw him in the pit.

One solution only, privatize, buy the government out and sell the ordered A380’s, quickly.
No need to sell the head office, just clean it up.

Regards
E.B.

pax britanica

I hope those of you on the front line at MAS get the management you deserve-ie a good one. Ive always enjoyed paxing with you even in Y class. I think you have a good product great food and deliver it with a genuine smile ( the latter something your neighbours at the bottom of the peninsula don't seem to manage)
good luck
PB

Daede1

MAS = Good Airline
Transmile = Much better.

Proves that the management and skill set exists within the country to run a good airline, but it has to be looked after by businessmen, not political lackeys.

icemanfx

Part IIa was found at http://www.mggpillai.com/sections.ph...le&artid=13363

The MAS chairman and Dom Perignon champagne

The MAS Chief Financial Officer, Low Chee Tong, announced his resignation today, 23 December 2005, after a long and blighted career. There is much more to this man than is known to the public. He has had a special relationship for a long time with Citibank, to which he had channelled MAS banking business for a long time. He has also cost MAS much money. When he was personally responsible for the MAS office in Saudi Arabia, where the company has operations, for ten years, he did not file tax returns to the kingdom, as he should have, and MAS had to pay a RM10.0 fine to the Saudi authorities, in addition of course to the tax due. But despite, or rather because of, such bungles, he was promoted CFO.

In 2004, when one of his cronies was Accounts Manager in MAS office in London, the office lost RM40.0 million through forgery and dubious investments. (None of this was reported in the local media and the matter is still outstanding). When the Accounts Manager was on leave, someone forged his signature and moved RM40.0 million from MAS' time deposits account in London into some dubious short term investments. The money was almost completely lost. Until today, MAS senior management does not know how much money was recovered from the dubious investment.

But never mind. Mr Low recalled his protege from London, reprimanded him and, as punishment, posted him to MAS' Los Angeles office. This was not reported in the local press because Mr Low had put an internal gag order on this RM40.0 million caper. No one in the finance department in MAS was allowed to talk about this matter.

Now MAS faced another problem. They did not know that Mr Low had outsourced to a company called Tipro to do something called Asset Tagging. For a billion RM company with Botero paintings on its walls, MAS did not know where all its assets are. If someone were to walk out of MAS with a computer or fax machine, he could for there are no proper tracking procedures to tell MAS which machine was lost. Asset Tagging is no big deal. MAS' own staff had offered to do an internal Asset Tagging using contract workers that will cost less than RM300,000 and can be done in about a year. But the Chief Finance Officer did not agree. He told Tipro to do Asset Tagging instead. Cost? RM5.0 million, or more than 12 times what it could be done in house.

And how will Tipro get the job done? They will go to the same employees, get all the bar codes and numbers from MAS' own employees, even ask MAS employees to print the bar code stickers, and then they would just the sticker on the fax machines, photocopy machines, etc. And we are wondering why MAS keeps losing money?

There has been redefining of work functions and some soul searching in MAS since the MAS' news hit the fin. The RM7,250-a-day orang putih con-sultan, Chris Andrews, has had his duties reduced. His sidekick, Mazidah Mohamed Noor, has also had her duties reduced. But MAS senior management is still clueless on what to do. They are still doing what they have always done wrong. Mazidah has appointed another oran putih con-sultan for something called 'Sourcing Value' to renegotiate the lopsided contract with LSG Skychief (the catering company) and the IT sourcing contract with IBM. (In the 9 months from April to December 2005, MAS has paid RM100.0 million in con-sultan fees, and paid IBM RM100.0 for IT Outsourcing. So many people are feeding off MAS and by extension the taxpayers that it is not funny anymore). The cons- sultan for 'Sourcing Value' is the same con-sultan who engaged IBM as the IT source in the first place.

Why can't Senior General Managers, like Mazidah, read the contracts themselves and renegotiate, instead of hiring more and more son- sultans to do their work for them?

The Chairman, Munir Majid, has recently hired another con-sultan called Ogilvy and Mather, an international public relations firm, for RM80,000 a month, or RM960,000 per year, to manage the image of the Chairman's office. Among Ogilvy and Mather's advice to Munir Majid is to have roadshows to explain his side of the story. Roadshows to where? So far Munir Majid has had four road shows - with the MAS Employees Union, with the MAS senior general managers, general managers and with the managers. Why do you need to pay RM80,000 per month to tell you to go and talk with your own employees? Do you have to go to university to wash your backside?

During the roadshow with the Managers, someone asked Munir Majid, what the qualifications, experience and contribution of the RM7,250-a- day con-sultan, Christopher Andrews. Munir Majid said Christopher Andrews had vast experience working for Air New Zealand and had helped him understand MAS better. In other words, MAS had to pay an orang-putih foreigner con-sultan RM7,250 a day so that Munir Majid will know the MAS, a Malaysian company, better! Munir Majid forgot to mention to the Union members that Air New Zealand went bankrupt in 2002, and Christopher Andrews was thrown out of work. He landed a plum job in MAS. The same goes to Peter Read, the new Chief Operating Officer hired from British Airways. British Airways had made record losses and laid off many senior general managers like Peter Read, who are very lucky indeed that they can run to places in the Third World like Malaysia where they land plum jobs, and given preference over their citizens.

Another con-sultan, McKenzie & Co, has recently been hired to help MAS overcome its immediate cash shortage. But why not ask its team of seasoned mid-level Managers (not not the General Managers or Senior General Managers) how to go about saving money or raising cash? And saving money in the process?

At the Human Resources Department, or HRD, the General Manager - a Haji Yusif who was kicked out by Tan Sri Zeti Aziz from Bank Negara Malaysia - has hired yet another con-sultan to conduct a survey among MAS employees to find out their views about what is wrong with the company!! You can find this out by putting a good Suggesting Box in the Cafeteria. Or by talking to the people on the ground.

The General Managers and Senior General Managers in MAS really don't know their jobs; instead of using their brains, they hire con- sultans. The HRD man is who negotiated a 25% rise for the MAS pilots and which will cost MAS tens of millions of ringgit a year. In a big bungle, the 25% pay rise includes 30,000 man days of leave which the pilots had accumulated. The previous capable man in charge of pilot negotiations, a Mr Keong in HRD, was not consulted at all.

This year, MAS has sold an airplane. They thought they had made some money, but they forgot they sold the plane with a defects liability guarantee whereby MAS is liable for every single repair, even after the plane is sold. The result is that MAS has paid more to repair the plane that it received for selling it. How did this happen, with so many highly paid con-sultans?

While briefing the Senate for two hours on 20 December 2005, Idris Jala, the head hunted chief executive, told Senators that 75% per international routes are not profitable. This is true. The Los Angeles route has never been profitable even after 20 years. Then there are also foolish routes like KUL to Johannesburg in South Africa and which flies on to Buenos Aires in Argentina, which are almost empty on every flight. But the then Prime Minister, Dr Mahathir Mohamed, wanted to show the flag in South America and MAS had no choice about this route. Can Idris Jala chop off these loss- making but flag showing routes? Would he be allowed to?

But SIA flies these routes, and they make money. SIA makes money on its Los Angeles routes. How do they do it? Or are there other factors that causing losses for MAS?

While MAS makes losses, its ticketing agents are making tons of money. MAS has appointed GSAs or General Sales Agents, who are the sole agents for selling MAS tickets in many countries. The GSAs are making a killing, while MAS is getting killed. How so? The GSAs get tickets from MAS at huge discounts, which they can mark up and sell to the public. So while MAS suffers deep discounts, the GSAs make huge money - again running into millions of ringgit.

Who are the GSAs? Well, the GSA in Pakistan is owned by the Sultanah of Pahang. The GSA in Italy, a company called Mal-Ital, is owned by the Tengku Mahkota of Pahang (There are a few Datos from Pahang in MAS!) The GSA in Sweden is owned by a Malaysian who is presently a PR in Sweden.

The Botero paintings have kicked up a big fuss. The Senators have told Idris Jala to sell them. Munir Majid has defended buying the Botera paintings by saying they would enhance the image of MAS as a billion ringgit company. But how does this tally with MAS trying to selling off its headquarters building in Jalan Sultan Ismail? If you have sold your building, where are you going to hand the RM1.5 million painting? Surely not in an aircraft hangar in Subang. Munir Majid has also bent the truth about the paintings. He said the budget for the paintings was approved two years ago. This is untrue. He has also said that the paintings are a capital expenditure, and do not add to the company's losses. But what about cash flow? How do you pay for the paintings if not by using cash? Where does a loss making company get the RM1.55 million cash to pay for the paintings?

The budget approved two years ago by its then chairman, Tan Sri Azizan, was for other things like office renevations. However, when MAS was beginning to show red ink, he killed unnecessary expenditure and never spent those budgeted funds. Munir Majid has also exposed his bungling when he showed Union members the Botero paintings. He told the Union members that he himself had a collection of Boteros in his house, and said he authorised the purchase of Boteros from the same art dealer who sold him his personal collection. This is clearly a conflict of interest. When Tajuddin Ramli was flying MAS into the ground, he got MAS to buy two multi-million ringgit luxury apartments in Kensington in London, in the same building and from the same developer from whom Tajuddin Ramli and his crony had also bought the same luxury apartments. If they were any volume discounts for these purchases, who would get it: Tajuddin Ramli or MAS? Likewise, when Munir Majid authorised the purchase of the Botero from his personal art supplier, who would have benefitted from any discounts? Munir Majid or MAS?

But how did Munir Majid circumvent the MAS Board of Directors? How did he get the paintings approved? How did Mazidah get Christoper Andrews employed at RM7,250 a day? How was the IT outsourcing contract given to IBM? How does MAS Director Azman Yahya's ailing Symphony Group benefit from MAS' outsourcing? Simple. Create sub- committees to the MAS Board, and which has its full powers. Then these sub-committees make the important decisions and then get the board to rubber stamp them. One such sub committee is the Board Strategry Committee, chairmed by Munir Majid with Azman Yahya and Tengku Azmir as the members. The outsourcing and the hiring of con- sultans was approved by this Board Strategy Committee. Azman Yahya's Symphony Group has benefitted from some of the outsourcing awarded by this subcommittee of which he is a member. Neat, isn't it? For example, the con-sultan contract with Christopher Andrews has been expended in a memo to the MD dated 7 January 2005 from Marzida Mohamed Noor, the Senior General Manager of Support Services. She tells the MD, Dato' Ahmad Fuad Dahlan that the Board Strategy Committee has approved the support services, that with Christopher Andrews' participation, she was able to tell the BSC that it had made right choice. And that Christopher Andrews' contract 'shall be on a daily rate based on a month to month basis', the total cost 'shall not exceed RM650,000 (inclusive of tax) for the designated phase 1 of the work'. And she signed it. She makes references to the Board Strategy Committee several times in that memo. How can the MD refuse when the Chairman says yes, and overides him? But in this way, the MAS Board is sidelined, and is frequently no more than a rubber stamp.

tbc

Part IIb was found at http://www.mggpillai.com/sections.p...cle&artid=13363


But then it does not really matter because the MAS Board, stuffed with Khazanah nominees and other no brainers, does not do anything about the Engineering Mafia, Pilots Collective Agreements, accumulated man days leave, C checks, Botero paintings, light bulb changes or anything at all.

In Engineering, there is something called the \'Engineering Mafia\'. These are the engineers, mechanics and ground crews that are costing the company millions of ringgit in overtime claims and shoddy work. They bum around when they should be working, and start work only after their day is over. So they begin work only after they finish for the day, and claim overtime pay. Anyone who tries to genuinely work hard gets reprimanded by the Engineering Mafia. The situation is so bad that expatriate engineers become indoctrinated into this cheating culture. MAS ends up paying millions in overtime.

C checks are done sloppily on MAS aircraft. C checks are the checks on simple and basic equipment and fittings on board aircraft like light bulb or toilet flushes. MAS aircraft are even failing C checks because MAS\' Engineering Mafia does not even do the C checks properly. Delayed flights cost money.

MAS also had ground servicing agreements with British Airways in London. When MAS planes fly into London, the BA mechanics run quick checks and replace faulty light bulbs. How many light bulbs do BA change for MAS, and what do they cost. In London, MAS pays in sterling pounds, and one sterling pound costs MAS RM7.00. But in Malaysia, the Engineering Mafia allows work to be done overtime, and the work is not properly done. So MAS pays BA to change light bulbs, and pays for it in sterling pounds!

When Munir Majid met the Unions to explain his actions, he tried to put the wool over their eyes. Until this news was exposed about two weeks ago, he flew free of charge by MAS first class from KUL to London almost every weekend. Munir Majid explained to the Unions that this was within his entitlement for free tickets. But he did not tell the Unions that as Chairman he is only entitled to four free flights a year and not four free first class flights a month!

Besides, first class flight attendants know that Munir Majid is a free loander. He drinks in the MAS Golden Lounge. But he drinks most on board the plane, where his favorite is Dom Perignon champagne, which costs about RM450 a bottle. They say they have to open a new bottle just for the Chairman when he flies free at the weekend from Kuala Lumpur to London. When he gets off the flight in London, he asks the flight attendants to \'ta pau\' for him any half finished bottles of Dom Perignon campaigme. Not only is MAS a Flying Buffet; it also a Flying Bar, at least for Munir Majid!

Ends